Edel 4, Netherlands to Croatia and summer 2015 (English)

Hello, my name is Ive, I'm from Rijeka, Croatia and this is a story about my Edel 4.

I don't remember how I decided to buy Edel4 but in December 2014. I went to Netherlands (1250 km) to inspect the boat and that time I paid for the boat. Five months later I put a towing hook on my car, bought a trailer (1350 kg, a bit too small for E4 but the one I can tow with B license), asked a friend if he will come with me and we went.

This is Edel 4 on a trailer in Netherlands. Trip took us 4 days, and we even had snow in the Alps over which we had to pass because of a GPS error. We also had a flat tire on trailer in Austria but not too much trouble. The car did great even if it looks a bit small for such a boat. 200HP is enough to pull E4 easy.

After arrival in Croatia we put new anti-fouling, bought a tender and in June the boat was in water. Over here in Croatia we had some holidays and combining them with a weekend we managed to get 6 days in June to sail around Istria. That was our first sailing (I used to windsurf). First day we had no wind and all other days we had great sailing weather. Bura, a N-NE wind that is common only in Croatia and is usually dangerous to sail because it blows in gusts is in Istra suitable to sail so we had great time. Sometimes maybe a bit too much heeling considering the children were on board but everything went OK. Totally inexperienced I had bloody blisters on my hands but it was worth it.

First night we spend on buoy in Medulin marina and the other day after an afternoon with friends on Bavaria 33, we went off to find anchor for the night. That was our first time to sleep on anchor and I was afraid so I slept in cockpit to be able to check our position so I didn't sleep that good but with too small children you get used to not sleeping well.

On this picture our daughter, then 3 years old, (only her leg show) is snacking, relaxed.., and I worried how will the kids accept sailing.

After that week we had to work a little and then we went to Susak island in early July, again on Bura wind, not recommendable wind to sail in that waters but I was confident in the boat and the wind was supposed to end that day in the afternoon. It was choppy and the wife didn't like it too much because we had to cross some 20 NM of open sea in strong wind and the kids had to be in cabin all the time because of the waves and splashing water.

But after the wind stopped we motored to the port, wife had some opportunity to cook us lunch, and kids to come out of the cabin. Susak is specific island in Croatia, most distant populated Island from land, with lots of yellow sand. Since I dropped my mobile in the water over there I don't have many pics from sailing, just some of from the beach. Those couple days temperatures were extreme, close to 40 degrees Celsius. For this summer we will make some sort of shade made of canvas and telescopic poles for tent.

This was the first time that we moored our boat on dock and it is pretty low, so it is quite hard to get on and off the boat. Not all docks are this high and our E4 was the smallest sailboat there so I will have to install a pasarella.

Other than that we took our E4 once on again in Istria in July and anchored it in front of the beach of our camping place in Peroj so we did some sailing around Brijuni national park islands and a weekend in Rovinj where we were caught in a summer storm when leaving, that was quite dangerous and foolish of me to leave the safety of the port that day. Something I don't like to remember but again a proof of E4's seaworthiness. One weekend in August we went to Cres; too hot and not enough wind but also beautiful sea and swimming.

Here is a capture from google maps with (pretty bad) added routes of our sailing since I don't know if anybody knows northern Adriatic.

In the end there is a short video of my father and me sailing outside our homeport.

Commentaires

Hi Ive,I feel flabbergasted by your story : going all the way to the Nederlands (my homeland) to get and buy a boat, then, without much experience, getting to travel that much...You deserve respect and sympathy !Concerning Croatia, Your experience does'nt match with mine, perhaps because you are a native. I have sailed once on a 48 feet shooner and had some weary experiences such as unfriendly welcome in marinas, many private islands where you are asked to get your anchor ot of the way, quite some arguing with coast guards about protected areas, many very expensive private marinas..etc etcThe country and seaside is lovely, native people most friendly, but it looks to be not so easy going when you intend landing with a boat and are not some kind of millionaire or part of VIP world.I wish you smooth and happy sailing with your boat for the coming years.

Thanks Pascal, I thought that I lost all that I wrote. :)Croatia is (they say) great for sailing. Not so much in it's northern part as in south (Dalmatia: Kornati, Zadar, Split, Brač, Hvar, Dubrovnik...). Kornati especially (national park consisting of 89 islands) and that is where we are going this summer so I will write about that for sure.Maybe my pictures, more than words, inspire someone to put his Edel on a trailer and come to sail in Croatia. In aforementioned southern parts of coast there is a great daytime wind called Maestral (Mistral?) that blows from west during day, moderate to strong - great for sailing.